Master Plan 2024

[skirby]

"The plain truth is that our cities were built chiefly in the 19th Century and the early part of the 20th Century, when horse-and-buggy provided the most common transportation and horse-drawn wagons carried our local wares, when factories huddled together in high buildings and a man lived within walking distance of his job or took a streetcar to work. How many of you walk to work today? How many of you took a bus or a streetcar? How many cities even have streetcars? The automobile has us in its grip. This is the age of decentralization, from the factory in its landscaped acreage to the regional shopping center out in the middle of nowhere, from the drive-in theater to the drive-in branch bank. The use of land has changed to meet our own pattern of living, and our cities must change too, to accommodate us the way we want to live, or our cities will die." wrote Raymond Rebasmen as one of the leaders of The Central Little Rock Urban Renewal Project and owner of Rebasmen Ford.  It was this outlook that resulted in the Main Street 1969 plan along with Urban Renewal with the end result being the depopulation of downtown Little Rock and  34% of the central city being taken up by parking.  Since the late 1950's there has been plans to revitalize the downtown area and this year(2024) another new plan will be offered. Will it push LR into the future or will it end up like the plans from the 1950"s/1960's,  the "Downtown Little Rock Development Plan" of 1982 "Downtown Little Rock Framework for the Future" approved in  1999 and updated in 2009 or the Creative Corridor of 2012?  In 1960 the population of downtown was  over 20,000 and now it is around 4,400 while the plan in the works would like to see it double by 2035 to around 9,000.

Why not work for a greater  density in 2035, which would support a vastly improved Downtown Little Rock? Make DLR a place where people want to live and by doing this  visitors would also feel welcome.

After looking over what is publicly available about the upcoming 2024 plan there are a number of improvements that could be done , some short tern and others will take longer to finalize. to enhance DLR.

1. Designate an organization to be the primary director, promoter, cheerleader, etc. of the plan. Not only would it be the face but the one behind the curtain.

2. In order for the downtown to thrive it must interact  with the surrounding neighborhoods, Start off with Argenta, the East Village and SOMA on work on common problems that need fixing.

   A . DLR and Argenta both could benefit from a second river crossing for the street car, 

   B.  DLR and the East Village could work together to get a plan and construction started on the new park planned  under I-30,  then  work on the deck park over I-30.

   C.  DLR and SOMA could get together and promote an enhanced bridge over I-630 at Main along with extending the street car down Main Street.     

3.  Group projects into three levels: small or STMs((lsmall things matter), intermediate and long range. 

   A.   Small or short time involved finish activity,

          a.   Return the name of the street car line back to the River Rail.

           b.  Close La Harpe at Chester to Markham/President Clinton Ave except for a service drive for the Convention Center area.  This would get the traffic out of Riverfront Park and allow a main park entrance to be constructed later at Markham/Presidential Ave.

           c.   Close the State Street bridge over I-630 to motor traffic allowing pedestrians and bike traffic connecting 9th Street and Philander Smith University 

           d. Daylighting intersections.

          e.  Establish a " School Street" between 2nd and 3rd on Louisiana St,  On the east side of Louisiana is the eStem Elementary School and the west side is a vacant lot waiting for a parking deck to be constructed. When the deck is completed is will make the four block section of Louisiana  home      

               to five parking decks.

[skirby]

On 3/18/2024 at 6:09 PM, skirby said:

"The plain truth is that our cities were built chiefly in the 19th Century and the early part of the 20th Century, when horse-and-buggy provided the most common transportation and horse-drawn wagons carried our local wares, when factories huddled together in high buildings and a man lived within walking distance of his job or took a streetcar to work. How many of you walk to work today? How many of you took a bus or a streetcar? How many cities even have streetcars? The automobile has us in its grip. This is the age of decentralization, from the factory in its landscaped acreage to the regional shopping center out in the middle of nowhere, from the drive-in theater to the drive-in branch bank. The use of land has changed to meet our own pattern of living, and our cities must change too, to accommodate us the way we want to live, or our cities will die." wrote Raymond Rebasmen as one of the leaders of The Central Little Rock Urban Renewal Project and owner of Rebasmen Ford.  It was this outlook that resulted in the Main Street 1969 plan along with Urban Renewal with the end result being the depopulation of downtown Little Rock and  34% of the central city being taken up by parking.  Since the late 1950's there has been plans to revitalize the downtown area and this year(2024) another new plan will be offered. Will it push LR into the future or will it end up like the plans from the 1950"s/1960's,  the "Downtown Little Rock Development Plan" of 1982 "Downtown Little Rock Framework for the Future" approved in  1999 and updated in 2009 or the Creative Corridor of 2012?  In 1960 the population of downtown was  over 20,000 and now it is around 4,400 while the plan in the works would like to see it double by 2035 to around 9,000.

Why not work for a greater  density in 2035, which would support a vastly improved Downtown Little Rock? Make DLR a place where people want to live and by doing this  visitors would also feel welcome.

After looking over what is publicly available about the upcoming 2024 plan there are a number of improvements that could be done , some short tern and others will take longer to finalize. to enhance DLR.

1. Designate an organization to be the primary director, promoter, cheerleader, etc. of the plan. Not only would it be the face but the one behind the curtain.

2. In order for the downtown to thrive it must interact  with the surrounding neighborhoods, Start off with Argenta, the East Village and SOMA on work on common problems that need fixing.

   A . DLR and Argenta both could benefit from a second river crossing for the street car, 

   B.  DLR and the East Village could work together to get a plan and construction started on the new park planned  under I-30,  then  work on the deck park over I-30.

   C.  DLR and SOMA could get together and promote an enhanced bridge over I-630 at Main along with extending the street car down Main Street.     

3.  Group projects into three levels: small or STMs((lsmall things matter), intermediate and long range. 

   A.   Small or short time involved finish activity,

          a.   Return the name of the street car line back to the River Rail.

           b.  Close La Harpe at Chester to Markham/President Clinton Ave except for a service drive for the Convention Center area.  This would get the traffic out of Riverfront Park and allow a main park entrance to be constructed later at Markham/Presidential Ave.

           c.   Close the State Street bridge over I-630 to motor traffic allowing pedestrians and bike traffic connecting 9th Street and Philander Smith University 

           d. Daylighting intersections.

          e.  Establish a " School Street" between 2nd and 3rd on Louisiana St,  On the east side of Louisiana is the eStem Elementary School and the west side is a vacant lot waiting for a parking deck to be constructed. When the deck is completed is will make the four block section of Louisiana  home      

               to five parking decks.

3.A. continues:

           f.  Encourage  the Governor to provide funding to redo Capitol Ave. If she can travel to different parts of the would to seek business for the state then she should be able to come up with the funding for this project.  She should take pride in her home state,  unlike the past governors who failed completely  to do anything about it.

         g, There is talk about UALR moving their business school into the Little Rock Tech Park,  How much would that cost and would   it prohibit expansion in the future. How about moving into   another  office building in downtown Little Rock?  My suggestion would be the Lyon Building on Capitpl Ave. It contains 130,000 sq. ft. and is being offered for sale for $8,400,000. Install UALR branding and use what is needed and lease the remainder.  If all space is used that would take the building out of the office market.  I don't think UALR  could construct a space at the Tech Park for what is being asked for this building,. Not only is this building in a prime location but is only a three block walk to the Tech Park.

 

[diatom]

What would you like in redevelopment of Capital avenue 

[skirby]

On 3/23/2024 at 4:25 PM, diatom said:

What would you like in redevelopment of Capital avenue 

Capitol Ave. from Main to Broadway. Convert the parking lot at Main and Capitol  into a public square until it is developed. My suggestion for the Bank America building would be to turn the lobby from the tower east into a food hall/public space. Open up space for doors leading to an enhanced outdoor eating space along Capitol.  What if Yellow Rocket Concepts took over the space and put in a kitchen to service their concepts. Ex. would be a taproom for Lost Forty and a number of their restaurants ( Big Orange, Zaza's, Taco & Tamale and even a testing area for any new concepts or popups they would have).  They could even pick a time in the evening, 9 pm  or so to become more of a spot where they would adapt their menus and serve only one or two burgers, a couple of pizzas and a taco or two and adult beverages.

Capitol west of Broadway is a little unclear. On the north side of Capital is a three block area of government buildings wthl no north/south  access. Really not a good area for walking unless you have business with the government. Across the street will be the redeveloped Fairfield Inn. From this point west consist mainly of parking lots and a few one story buildings except for the Arkansas State Library and the empty AT&T building. The AT&T building might have some hope of becoming apartments because it is owned by the same company that is finishing up the redevelopment of the old VA Hospital. From that point on are state offices and nesting places for numerous lobbyists.  

[skirby]

Some information has been released about the Master Plan which included parking spaces available. The number given was 50,000 in the downtown area. All agree that is an over abundance but let's see what the Mayor has in store for his upcoming tax referendum in November. He said in remarks that he would like to see a decrease in the number of parking spaces but I believe he is a supporter for one if not two new parking decks for downtown with the backing of city funding.  Another takeaway from the release is a full grocery store to be located downtown, The site mentioned before was a parking lot at 9th and Main. There already is a full grocery store at 17th and Main and if the goal is to make downtown more walk able then a large format store is not the answer.  A smaller store like an Aldi's  or Fresh Market would fit better with a goal of having a number of these as the population grows.  A good location would be where Central Arkansas Water's headquarters is now located on Capitol Ave. There is a developed neighborhood on the south and numerous vacant lots to the north. 

Finally there was talk about expanding the streetcar network. There is nothing new here and it is basically the same plans as the River Rail study released in September 2011. I guess no one has read this study because it stated that rail should be installed when the Broadway Bridge was rebuilt, not done, and that an expansion to the airport was not feasible. It did call for an extension down south Main.